Fun Times Around the House

Can I just tell you how blessed we feel that Jake and Jon are truly the best of friends? So rarely do they fight and when they do (come on, they're brothers, of course they do once in awhile) it's over and forgotten so quickly. Whenever there are other kids around, they still play with each other. It's amazing.
While the boys played in the sandbox, I sat with Lizzie on the Air Rider and swung us a bit. SHE LOVED IT!!! Her little legs were just kicking away and she had a smile on her face the whole time!

Jon giving his little sister a big hug. He is so sweet with her and is always trying to make her laugh (quite successfully, I might add!) He dances, sings silly songs, you name it, all in the name of getting his sister to smile!

Isn't this just the cutest?

Lizzie dancing with her Daddy. How sweet is that? Can you say "wrapped"?

I have the best husband ever!

We have a CRAWLER!!!!

Look out world...or at least look out Jake and Jon! Your toys are no longer safe! Lizzie is on the prowl! We've been waiting for this and she's finally got the crawling thing down. Yeah Liz! So today, Jon and I filled all the little plugs with outlet covers and the boys are trying extra hard to keep all their little toys, books, papers, etc. out of reach. Nothing is safe from Lizzilla!!! ha ha!!!

Also, she's recently started eating Cheerios. Can I tell you how much this girl loves Cheerios? She chows!! And, I also bought her one of those little mesh bags that you can put food in (bananas, ripe pears, etc.). She loves that thing, too! What a big girl she is!!! It's nice that I can sit her in her booster seat, put a few Cheerios on her tray to hold her over until I can actually feed her. She is the happiest little girl, but not so patient when it's time to eat!! This actually buys me some time.

The Burkes in Taiwan

Jon and Kristy Burke, our very dear friends that used to live here in Dover are now stationed in Colorado Springs. Jon is working at the Air Force Academy and Kristy is staying home with their two awesome kids, Jackson and Grace. They've been in the adoption process for a LONG time now, trying to adopt a baby from Taiwan. Finally, they are in Taiwan ready to bring little Andy home. I just read her blog for an update and as it turns out, they are also hoping to bring home Andy's sister who is in foster care. So, please PRAY for them. And if you don't believe in prayer, think lots of positive thoughts for them, please! You have no idea what an amazing family this is and what a blessing this would be to them as well as to these children. Gook luck, Jon and Kristy and we can't wait to see pictures of you WITH little Andy and hopefully even his sister! That would be fantastic! Praying, too, for safe travels...
Miss you guys!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Watching the World Series, Jake asked, "what's J.C. stand for?" "You know, Jake, I'm not sure," Andy said. "How 'bout Jokes Cat," Jake decided. "Okay, Jokes Cat Romero. Sounds good to me," Andy agreed.

Jon, while trying to relieve an itch on his foot says, "I have a scratch and I can't get it off!"

And now for the kicker:

We were talking about the dimensions of new sofas we were looking at buying (overall size versus the size of the actual seat part) and Andy said, "so you would think a + b would = c." Jake responded, "I didn't know you could add letters! So, there could be no u + u because there aren't 40 letters in the alphabet!"
Okay, so he was off by one letter, but pretty sharp for a 5 year old that he assigned numbers to each of the letters to figure that out in a matter of like 2 seconds!

Trick-Or-Treat!

Little Miss Lizzie Ladybug

Yup, decided to get creative and make the boys' costumes this year. Jake was a tractor-and-trailer (Poppop, you ought to like that one) and Jon was Thomas...again. The boys did so much of the work themselves and we had a lot of fun putting them all together. We had some walking issues (we'll have to downsize next year!! ha ha!), but we managed to make it around the block. I was tickled and so were the boys at the wonderful response the neighbors gave them (and Jake's classmates at their school party earlier in the day). Everyone thought the costumes were great.

Phillies Fever!!!

1980. The last time the Phillies won the World Series. Andy was 4 and sat on his dad's lap at Game 6 and watched the Phils clinch it. 1980. Did I say that already? Needless to say, the Merkle family is THRILLED!!!! 2008 World Series Champs, BABY!!!!

Each night of the Series, Andy let the boys stay up to watch the first couple of innings. I think he was so happy they were so interested in baseball...finally!
Celebrating after a fantastic play. Game 5, part 2, Jon tried to hang in there til the end. His eyes kept getting heavier and heavier and we kept asking him if he wanted to just go to bed. "No thanks." It was like he thought, "hey, if they're going to let me stay up, by George, I'm gonna do it!" Finally, after a few super long blinks, he said, "Daddy, can you carry me upstairs, please?" He was out. Jake stayed up til the end and watch the celebration! Fantastic. "Phinally," as the shirts say.

I couldn't resist making this.

Jonny's Got a New Set of Wheels!!!

Well, after trying out Jake's bike with the training wheels back on it and taking right off, we decided it was time for Jon to get a bike of his own. Mommom and Popsy got Jake his bike when we first moved into this house, so they took Jon to pick his out, too. Jon picked a red one...like the Phillies. Popsy got it all put together and it before long, Jon was on it and riding around the driveway and then the block! He's doing a great job! Way to go, Jon!!! And thanks, Mommom and Popsy!